​L.A. mayor supports Gold Line extensions

Los Angeles’ mayor and the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were both speaking out on behalf of the Gold Line Eastside extension Thursday. Of course, it’s the same guy who holds both posts: Eric Garcetti.

There are two routes being considered. The northerly course is 9.5-mile Washington Boulevard route through Montebello and Pico Rivera and ending in Whittier; the southerly route runs 6.9 miles through Montebello, Rosemead and South El Monte paralleling the Pomona (60) Freeway and would terminate near the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area.

Speaking to a crowd at the Hughes Community Center in Claremont, Garcetti said he favored the northerly, Washington Boulevard route because it would serve transit-reliant residents unserviced by rail, adding that he would like to see the light-rail line extended on both Washington and the north side of the Pomona (60) Freeway, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

“If we can figure out a way to fund them both, why not build both?” Garcetti said.

The project is expected to cost between $1.3-billion and $1.7-billion.

Metro reportedly plans to release an environmental impact report on the project on July 25, Whittier City Councilman Fernando Dutra said. Dutra, who has been a member of the Washington Boulevard Light Rail Transit Coalition for more than six years, responded to the mayor, saying he was cool with building both routes on the condition that the route entering Whittier was built first.

The Washington route would carry an average of 19,900 passengers from the terminus of the line at Atlantic Station east to Garfield, south through the city of Commerce, then east along Washington Boulevard through Montebello, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs and ending in Whittier at the PIH Health Hospital-Whittier Campus.

The freeway route, on the other hand, would carry about 3,200 passengers less on average, but it would also cost less, according to Metro.

Garcetti also spoke in favor of the Gold Line Foothill Extension from Azusa to Montclair, saying that even if it wasn’t included by the Metro Planning and Programming Committee, he would try to get the project funded. , he said he would work to find funding for the project.

“I have never heard a mayor of Los Angeles say those things,” Habib Balian, CEO of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, told the News. “I think he surely understands it."